Global Expert Mission on Critical Materials in Canada and the US Dissemination Event

Innovate UK’s Global Expert Missions (GEM) Programme plays a pivotal role in building strategic partnerships with countries and overseas organisations. It is an important tool to support the UK’s Industrial Strategy ambition and to be the international partner of choice for research and innovation. The GEM programme delivers this by providing a deep dive into the research and Innovation ecosystem in selected countries to help identify opportunities for UK innovation and shape future programmes.

Each Mission has representatives from UK business, policy and research community, who:

• Gather market insights and build expert foresights on new and emerging innovation sectors
• Identify opportunities for international collaboration
• Build a portfolio of technological and business priorities that will elevate the UK as the ‘Partner of Choice’ in future innovation partnerships with globa partners
• Facilitate international dialogues for the UK business community
• Align innovation policy and unlock regulatory barriers for future partnerships

The objective of a GEM is to i) Inform UK businesses and government ii) Identify opportunities and build international collaborations and iii) Promote and share UK capabilities.

The global energy transition towards a low-carbon future is accelerating the development of technologies that incorporate critical materials such as solar panels, wind turbines and in batteries for electric vehicles (BEV). With only a few countries dominating the market for critical materials, it has adversely affected the global minerals market through price volatility, geopolitical influence and disruptions to supply chains. The scale of infrastructure upgrades required for a low-carbon economy and the timeline of deployment means many materials that are seen as non-critical can become critical within a short period. This means current investment plans and resources for critical materials are not sufficient to keep pace with new development and rapid deployment of clean technologies.

The USA and Canada are considered key economies in the critical materials area and are of strategic importance to the UK. A team of UK experts representing UK businesses and academia supported by Innovate UK and Innovate UK KTN travelled to Canada and the US in May 2022 focussing on critical materials. The GEM explored potential collaboration opportunities in four thematic areas i) extraction industry and processing ii) manufacturing and supply chain iii) recycling and circular economy and iv) innovation and policy.

Who is this recording for?

The Webinar is suitable for people working at the interface of materials discovery, manufacturing and application, extraction and processing industry, recycling critical raw materials and repurposing materials for new applications, policy and innovation.

Why should you watch?

The event will provide an overview of the Global Expert Mission to Canada and the US on Critical Materials. We will share findings and recommendations of the mission and also hear from leading experts on critical material from Canada and the US.